Unrequited Love
by KiKi and Co
Summary: Sara thought she knew the truth about her brother, but when he leaves her with the idea that he might not love her after all, she can't help feeling like there's still something he's hiding. SaraXSetsuna, KiraXSetsuna implied.


**Title:** Unrequited Love  
**Author:** Neko/KiKi  
**Fandom:** Angel Sanctuary  
**Pairing:** Sara/Setsuna  
**Summary: **_Sara thought she knew the truth about her brother, but when he leaves her with the idea that he might not love her after all, she can't help feeling like there's still something he's hiding. The next evening she finds her way to him in order to convince him to tell her the truth.  
_**Warnings:** If you've seen the series, you know there's incest everywhere you look. If you haven't, well, there's incest everywhere. Read at your own risk._  
_**Beta** thanks to Teh Antisecks and FMTenpo for the story, and to Packmentality for beating the spelling and grammar mistakes out of it. Violently.

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Sara looks around herself curiously, then glances back down at the small handwritten set of directions in her hand. "He said it was right... Oh, I see." She looks back up, trudging through the rain to the nearest street sign and peering at it. After a moment she consults the note again, and walks up the street another block before turning into the apartment complex there, and making her way slowly up the narrow flight of stairs.

"Two seventeen... Ah, here it is." She hesitates at the door, taking a deep breath. Her heart fluttering in her chest, soaked to the skin from the pouring rain, she reaches out and knocks lightly on the door.

When there's no immediate answer, she lets out the breath she didn't even realize she was holding, and starts to turn away. Just then, the door does open, revealing a tall blond silhouetted by the lamplight. Sara freezes, and turns back, breath catching in her throat.

"Big brother..."

He blinks down at her bedraggled figure. "Sara? What are you doing here? Mom's gonna be worried about you... It's pouring, too.. Come inside, you're soaked."

She doesn't hear the rest of his words as he goes on, too busy chasing her own thoughts around the inside of her head. She steps inside after him, letting him close the door behind her, and then with trembling fingers she reaches up, placing her fingertips over his mouth to hush him. "Brother, Setsuna, please don't worry about Mother." Sara shakes her head. He wouldn't understand if she told him. _Mom doesn't give a damn. She's sending me away from you, and I don't care if she worries anymore._

"How did you find me?" he asks past her fingers. She smiles wanly and looks at her other hand, with the crumpled note damp in her fist.

"Kira told me." She unfolds her fingers and lets the note flutter to the floor, turning green eyes back up to meet his gaze. "Don't be mad, he only wanted to help me." She slowly pulls her fingers away from his lips, leaning up on her toes to replace them with her mouth.

Setsuna tastes just the same as she remembered, from the one night he kissed her. Sweet, with a coppery tang underneath.

He pushes her away suddenly, eyes wide. "Sara...We can't...I can't do this." He steps away, turning towards another room.

She stands there, where he left her, and watches him turn on the light in the bathroom. _What was I thinking? He already said it wasn't anything. He already told me he didn't really care, I was just a convenient pretty face. So why am I even here?_

When he comes back with a towel and wraps it around her shivering shoulders tenderly, she remembers why. Because she knows he had to be lying for their mother's sake. She had seen it in his eyes, that flash of despair and hurt, and love, right before the door had closed behind him. Right before those hurtful words had come spilling forth from his lips.

She presses her body closer to his, shivering, and he lets her this time. She can smell the faint scent of smoke in his clothing, along with something spicy and enticing, and it makes her think of Kira. _He must have been with Kira today, or he wouldn't still smell of cigarettes._ It's an idle, passing thought as Setsuna wraps her tighter in the towel and his arms. Sara can hear his heart beating so, so fast, inside his chest.

She watches the drops of rain fall from her bangs, feeling some of them trace patterns down her face. Familiar patterns, like tears down her cheeks, only the rain isn't as salty as her tears. They stand there in silence a long few moments, before Setsuna tries to break them apart again.

"Listen, Sara... You've got to go home. You can't stay here. You won't be safe, with me."

"Big brother, we'll keep each other safe." She's tired, and knows it shows in her voice. She's getting whiny and childish, and she doesn't really care right now. "Won't we? Just like always. You've always kept me safe; or at least been there to help me back to my feet, kiss and make it better."

Sara can feel her own heart beating hard too, as she looks into Setsuna's dark eyes. He avoids her gaze, until she can't stand it any longer. "Aniki, look at me!" She can feel she's on the verge of crying again, and this time the rain won't hide it. "I don't care! I don't care if all I am is just an excuse, a way to let out your pent-up hormones. I love you!" _I can't bring myself to believe your lies. Please big brother, prove them wrong. The way you kissed me, I know it wasn't just pent up frustrations..._

He pushes her away, then, but not before she sees the pain in his eyes. He can't hide it from her. She follows him through the apartment, into the darkness of his bedroom. "Brother, why won't you just tell me? Say you love me. Three small words." _It would mean the world to me._ She corners him, and reaches up to pull him into another kiss.

"Sara, no." His hands against her chest to push her away, and he freezes then. She knows he knows where his hands are. And suddenly, this doesn't seem like a good idea anymore, the wet fabric pressing against her skin and their breathing harsh and loud in the darkness. The towel, no longer supported, slides from her shoulders to land in a heap on the floor behind her. The motion breaks their frozen moment, and she's beginning to think maybe she was wrong.

Maybe he was telling the truth.

She can't bear to think about that. She knows, she saw his face. She saw...she isn't sure, anymore, what she saw. Fear, hurt. She goes over it in her head, again and again, that look in his eyes.

The tears start again, she can't help it. She's exhausted; she cried herself to sleep last night over this, and she's going to do it again tonight. She collapses slowly to the floor, burying her face in her hands as she tries to bring her tears under control.

"Big brother, I don't know why you can't just say three stupid little words!" She stumbles to her feet, tears blurring her vision. "That's all I want, all I've ever wanted..." She can't take it anymore, if he's not going to say it she might as well leave.

She makes her way to the door, leaving Setsuna with that same look, that same lost pained expression plastered across his face, and as she closes the door behind her she thinks she hears him say "I love you, Sara," but she can't be sure, and she isn't going back to find out.

When she gets home she slips the ring off her finger for the first time in what feels like years, putting it back in the box, and leaving the box on her dresser. Tomorrow she'll say her goodbyes, and then it's off to England to be married off to some strange man. _I'm sorry, big brother. He'll never replace you in my heart._

_--Owari--_

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And thus ends Part One. I'm trying to decide if I want to finish writing Part Two (which is from Kira's PoV)...

Comments?


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